A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains or refers to materials which are subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office""s patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus for provisioning telephony services. More particularly, the present invention relates to a service management system for automating the provisioning flow of Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) telephony services.
2. Acronyms and Definitions
The written description provided herein contains acronyms and ter ms which refer to various communication services and system components. Although known, use of several of these acronyms and terms is not strictly standardized in the art. For purposes of the written description herein, the acronyms and terms will be defined as follows:
Traditionally, telephone companies have relied on switch vendors to create new services on central office (CO) switches. Once a switch vendor designed a new service, the telephone companies would market the service to a target audience. A disadvantage of this approach is the length of time required to bring a new service to the market. Typically 3 to 5 years is required to bring a new service to market. In addition, new services need to be re-created for a variety of vendor-specific switches, which may limit the availability of a particular service. Another limitation in the switch-based approach is that the services cannot be customized to a specific customer""s needs. In the traditional environment, provisioning of services was performed by Operations Support Systems (OSS). The OSS systems were responsible for mechanizing the flow from ordering to provisioning in switch-based telephony services.
In recent years, a number of new telephone service features have been provided by an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN). The AIN evolved out of a need to increase the capabilities of the telephone network architecture to meet the growing needs of telephone customers. The AIN provides a mechanism by which new services may be created outside of a particular vendor""s switch. Each CO in the AIN system is equipped as a Service Switching Point (SSP) which is capable of suspending normal call processing when encountering a xe2x80x9ctrigger.xe2x80x9d The trigger invokes AIN service logic associated with a subscriber. Once a call is triggered, the SSP launches a query through a Signal Transfer Point (STP) in a Common Channel Signaling Network (CCS) to a Service Control Point (SCP). The SCP contains the AIN service logic for the particular subscriber and determines how to handle and route the call. Once the SCP processes the call, the SCP sends the appropriate routing instructions through the STP to the SSP, which then routes the call. Intelligent Peripherals (IP) may be provided to process multi-media services such as announcements, voice activated dialing, etc.
An illustration of the basic components of an AIN architecture is shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, Service Switching Points. (SSPs) 36 are provided for sending and receiving data messages from a Service Control Point (SCP) or Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP) 30 via Signaling Transfer Points (STPs) 34. The data messages are communicated to and from the SSPs 36 and the SCP 30 along a Common Channel Signaling (CCS) network 44. Each SSP 36 routes telephone calls between telephone stations 50A, 50B, 50C, 50D, 50E, 50F, 50G, 50H, more specifically between a calling station (e.g., station 50A) and a called station (e.g., station 50G) through the trunked communications network 46 and telephone lines 48. Multi-media applications may be processed at the Intelligent Peripheral 28 attached to the SSP. For more information regarding AIN, see Berman, Roger K., and Brewster, John H., xe2x80x9cPerspectives on the AIN Architecture,xe2x80x9d IEEE Communications Magazine, February 1992, pp. 27-32, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
In the AIN environment, service orders typically flow through a Service Order Assignment Control (SOAC) system which is produced by Bellcore. SOAC is the primary source of provisioning updates for mass market AIN services that are initiated through the normal service order process. SOAC sends AIN trigger information to the MARCH(trademark) system for automatic switch updates. After the switch is updated, the service order flows to the appropriate billing systems for completion. However, SOAC is limited to provisioning AIN services only, and cannot provision services for non-AIN services.
An example of a prior art service management system includes the PACE SMS, manufactured by Digital Switch Corporation. The PACE SMS is described in more detail in the document entitled xe2x80x9cMegaHub(copyright) PACE(trademark) SMSxe2x80x94Service Management Systemxe2x80x94Advanced Intelligent Network Systems,xe2x80x9d DSC Communications Corporation, Issue 0.4, Jul. 17, 1994. The DSC PACE system provided network tools to manage and provision intelligent network services. The PACE(trademark) system provides a mechanism for managing service order updates, subscriber version management, provisioning across the AIN network, and service activation. The PACE(trademark) system also includes database management capabilities such as update distribution, roll back and roll forward, audits, login security, and data partitioning. The PACE(trademark) SMS is limited to the AIN environment only, and does not support an interface to SPACE, an interface to SOAC or existing OSS environments, enhanced security for protection of customer data, and tools for service creation.
Also known is a generic service management system deployed by ATandT. The ATandT SMS provides a platform having a set of functions which are re-usable across multiple AIN services and AIN releases, and provides for mass market and complex service management. The ATandT SMS provides a set of configurable, general purpose engines driven by the per-service configurations either by a service package from a Service Creation Environment (SCE) or by customization of the database schema to match a service running in the network element. Like the PACE(trademark) SMS, the ATandT SMS is limited to the AIN environment only, does not fully support existing OSS environments, an interface to SOAC, an interface to SPACE, enhanced security for protection of customer data, and tools for service creation.
While prior service management systems have provided various service provisioning features to subscribers and users, such past attempts have not provided a flexible system which may utilize the advantages of AIN functionality and existing non-AIN systems. In particular, prior attempts have not provided a mechanism for synchronizing service orders originating on multiple, incompatible systems. Past attempts have also failed to match customer specific data with service orders arriving through the traditional service order flow. Further prior systems have not addressed provisioning of mass market, i.e., templated, services and complex services which are not templated. Prior systems also do not provide a single point of access for customer service and repair.
Such features would be highly desirable to developers and provisioners of telephony services, such as regional telephone companies, that desire a flexible system of service creation, provisioning and support.
In view of the above, the present invention, through one or more of its various aspects and/or embodiments is thus presented to accomplish one or more objects and advantages, such as those noted below.
A general objective of the present invention is to provide a flexible service management system for use in an Advance Intelligent Network (AIN).
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a method for synchronizing service orders originating in one system with orders originating in another system.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for xe2x80x9choldingxe2x80x9d an order after partial provisioning so as to synchronize external provisioning requirements.
A further objective of the present invention is to accept input from traditional service order flow to add/change/delete customers in the ISCP in sync with additions/changes/deletions at the network element.
Another objective of the present invention is to accept customer-specific data and match the data with the service orders arriving through the traditional service order flow and sent to the ISCP.
Yet another objective of the present invention is to provide a single point of access/update for customer-specific data for use in customer service and repair.
A further objective of the present invention: is to provide a mechanism which may be quickly adapted to support automated service order flow-through processing for new AIN services.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a software development toolkit (SDT) to quickly build logic within the SMS to process new services.
Yet Another objective of the present invention is to provided for greater access to customer data and security measures to protect customer data.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide for greater flexibility in billing of services.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a greater ability to query downstream network elements including ISCP and IPs and provide a provisioning interface for these elements.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for facilitating service order management within a communications network. The communications network comprises network elements which provide communications services. The system receives a request representative of a service order for at least one communications service associated with a subscriber number from at least one service order source. The system comprises an order management system adapted to input the request, the order management system comprising processes which determine service implementing information that is output to the network elements to implement at least one communications service. Also provided is an interface system adapted to interface the service order management system with the at least one service order source and the network elements, and a database system adapted to store and access data related to the requests in a hierarchical format. Each service order source has a dissimilar input/output format, and the managing system coverts each dissimilar input/output service order format into a single internal format. In addition, the processes communicate via messages containing the requests where the messages are monitored at predetermined times.
According to another aspect, the processes of the order management system comprise an input process, a verification process, a messaging process, and an output process.
According to a further aspect, the messaging process formats messages created by the order management system for distribution within the order management system, and for distribution to the database system, the at least one service order source and the network elements via the interface system.
According to yet another aspect, the interface system comprises a transaction monitoring and system control system.
According to yet a further aspect, the transaction monitoring and system control system provides a mechanism for concurrently processing a plurality of requests within the order management system.
According to another aspect, the system further comprises a querying system which is adapted to query the database system and the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the messages comprise queries, acknowledgments, transaction types, function types, broadcasts, informational messages, and error notices.
According to yet another aspect, the input process accepts input data from the at least one service order source and verifies that the inputted data contains a predetermined minimum content requirement.
According to a further aspect, the input process populates the database system with raw data associated with the request, and an internal sequence number is generated which is associated with the request.
According to another aspect, the input process determines if the request contains errors, and if so, the input process corrects the errors and populates the database system with the raw data based on the request.
According to a further aspect, the input process identifies duplicative requests, such that a first of the duplicative requests is processed and others of the duplicative requests are not processed by the order management system.
According to yet another aspect, the input process is adapted to receive and update requests received in a raw format from operations support systems, where the input process further identify manual update requests.
According to yet another aspect, the input process reformats the raw data into the hierarchical format of the database system, the hierarchical format comprising tables having fields. The tables are associated by the internal sequence number.
According to another aspect, the verification process determines if the fields contain valid data in accordance with predetermined constraints.
According to a further aspect, the verification process selectively updates a lock table to prevent concurrent processing of two requests associated with the subscriber number.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process performs exception processing, order matching, correction order processing, order cancellation, local service provider order matching, and number change processing. The verification process also creates a first saved table in the database system which contains activity information and service order code information in accordance with the request.
According to a further aspect, the exception processing comprises From (F) and To (T) processing.
According to another aspect, the verification process processes FID and supplemental data.
According to a further aspect, the verification process determines if the request contains an allowable combination of the communications services at a user selectable date in accordance with information contained in the first saved table, and the verification process determines which of the network elements support the communications services at the user selectable date.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process creates a second saved table which contains information related to a difference of communications services between a subscriber""s current services and the at least one communications service being added, removed or modified by the request such that the difference of services is implemented by the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process verifies that the communications services represented by the request will be able to be provided by the network elements at a schedule date for implementation.
According to another aspect, the output process determines the service implementing information to be implemented by the network elements for the subscriber number. The output process routes the service implementing information to queues associated with the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the output process further comprises a network element implementing system, the network element implementing system interfacing with the network elements to output the service implementing information in a format appropriate for each of the network elements. The network element implementing system determines a proper sequence of the service implementing information to be outputted to the network elements and outputs the service implementing information to one or more queues associated with one or more network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the one or more queues have different dequeue times.
According to yet another aspect, the network element implementing system routes a portion of the service logic implementing information to a local update queue in accordance with a predetermined time, such that the portion of the service logic implementing information is not routed to the one or more queues associated with the network elements.
According to another aspect, the network element implementing system implements the at least one communications service in accordance with at least the internal sequence number associated with the request.
According to a further aspect, the network element implementing system updates the database system to indicate that the at least one communications service has been implemented by the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the network element implementing system requeues portions of the service implementing information to the network elements when an error is encountered.
According to yet another aspect, the network implementing process requeues dependent portions of the portions of the service implementing information without manual intervention.
According to another aspect, the network implementing process requeues the portion of the service implementing information after manual intervention.
According to a further aspect, the network implementing process requeues the service implementing information in accordance with a copy of the service implementing information stored by the database system.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process determines a schedule date and a schedule time to activate the at least one communications service at the network elements.
According to another aspect, the order management system further comprises a composite view system to provide a list of all existing services for the subscriber number, and to provide a list of services for the subscriber number in accordance with a user selectable date and time.
According to yet another aspect, the system further comprises a correction system, the correction system returns the network elements to a state prior to the network element implementing system implementing the service implementation information at the network elements. The correction system operates when the request has been corrected, canceled or encounters an error.
According to yet another aspect, the correction system resubmits the request without intervention from the at least one service order source.
According to another aspect, the correction system cancels the request without querying the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the database system appends communications network specific information to the request.
According to yet another aspect, the database system executes transactions related to the requests at the predetermined times, the transactions updating at least one predetermined table.
According to yet another aspect, the database system comprises an historical order log which is updated by the transactions which are executed at the predetermined times.
According to another aspect, the historical order log stores information related to the single internal format, error information related to the transactions indicative of a cause of an error, and portions of the service implementing information at the predetermined times. The order management system issues an acknowledgment to the at least one service order source when the historical order log stores a last portion of the service implementing information.
According to a further aspect, the historical order log stores information related to the single internal format, error information related to the transactions indicative of a cause of an error, and portions of the service implementing information at the predetermined times. The order management system issues an acknowledgment to the at least one service order source prior to when the historical order log stores a last portion of the service implementing information when removing the at least one communications service.
According to yet another aspect, the database system is adapted to skip storing one of the portions of the service implementing information, and the order management system continues to determine subsequent portions of the service implementing information.
According to yet another aspect, the database system provides the order management system with a table-driven service logic to facilitate the addition of new services.
According to another aspect, the database system provides the order management system with a table-driven service logic to facilitate the addition of new features to existing services, the new features conforming to existing feature constraints.
According to a further aspect, the database system provides an estimated response time in accordance with a network element response time and a length of a queue associated with each of the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, each of the network elements is provided with a plurality of queues having different prioritizations and the database system provides the estimated response time in accordance with the different prioritizations.
According to yet another aspect, the plurality of queues having the different prioritization comprise an online queue and a batch queue.
According to another aspect, the database system utilizes an internal sequence number associated with the request to store and access the service implementing information.
According to a further aspect, the database system stores manual intervention information related to the service implementing information at the predetermined times when the order management system encounters an error.
According to yet another aspect, the database system updates the at least one table such that the transactions are propagated through the order management system.
According to yet another aspect, the database system is adapted to modify the request after the order management system has begun determining the service implementing information for the request.
According to another aspect, the database system stores copies of the service implementing information and the messages.
According to a further aspect, the database system stores the request until a future date, future time, or future event, after which the database system submits the request to the order management system.
According to yet another aspect, the database system stores non-implementing information related to the request which is not used in the service implementing information, the non-implementing information being associated with the subscriber number upon the order management system outputting the service implementing information.
According to yet another aspect, the system further comprises a user interface, the user interface interfacing with the managing system via the interface system.
According to another aspect, the user interface is adapted to correct the service orders and generate the requests representative of the service orders.
According to a further aspect, the user interface is adapted to query the network elements and the database system. The network elements receive and process the query via the order management system.
According to yet another aspect, the interface system provides a communications link to the at least one service order source and the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the interface system routes communications to the appropriate one of the at least one service order source and the network elements.
According to another aspect, the communications links comprise TOPCOM, DATAGATE, MQSeries, ASN.1, TCP/IP and TUXEDO/WS.
According to a further aspect, the interface system further comprises a transaction monitoring and system control component which monitors the messages and updates the database system in accordance with the messages. The database system is updated in accordance with an internal reference number associated with the request.
According to yet another aspect, the transaction monitoring and system control component comprises TUXEDO/Q or TUXEDO/T.
According to yet another aspect, the order management system is provided with a system to implement services on template-based network elements and non-template based network elements.
According to another aspect, the request submitted by the at least one service order source initiates the messaging process to send a message to another of the service order source.
According to a further aspect, the system notifies an administrative personnel of an error in accordance with the severity of the error.
According to yet another aspect, synchronous network element and asynchronous network element responses are processed by the order management system in a standardized manner.
According to yet another aspect, the processes and the interface system is adapted to be interrupted to read a configurable parameter file in order to modify the processes and the interface system.
According to another aspect, the communications network comprises an advanced intelligent network, and the at least one order source comprises EASE, ECRS, SOAC, and a PC server.
According to a further aspect, the user interface is provided with a suite of services to access the database system.
According to yet another aspect, the system is provided with a suite of services to access the database system.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for facilitating service order management within an advanced intelligent network. The system receives a request representative of a service order for at least one telephony service associated with a subscriber telephone number from at least one operations support system. The advanced intelligent network comprises network elements which provide telephony services. The system comprises an order management system adapted to input the request, the order management system comprising processes which determine service provisioning information that is output to the network elements to implement the at least one telephony service. The system also includes an interface system adapted to interface the service order management system with the at least one operations support system and the network elements, and a database system adapted to store and access data related to the requests in a hierarchical format. Each operations support system has a dissimilar input/output format and the managing system coverts from each dissimilar input/output service order format into a single internal format. The processes of the order management system communicate via messages containing the requests, and the messages are monitored at predetermined times.
According to another aspect, the processes of the order management system comprises an input process, a verification process, a messaging process, and an output process.
According to a further aspect, the messaging process formats messages created by the order management system for distribution within the order management system, and for distribution to the database system, the at least one operations support system and the network elements via the interface system.
According to yet another aspect, the interface system comprises a transaction monitoring and system control system.
According to yet another aspect, the transaction monitoring and system control system provides a mechanism for concurrently processing a plurality of requests within the order management system.
According to another aspect, the system further comprises a querying system which is adapted to query the database system and the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the messages comprise queries, acknowledgments, transaction types, function types, broadcasts, informational messages, and error notices.
According to yet another aspect, the input process accepts input data from the at least one operations support system and verifies that the inputted data contains a predetermined minimum content requirement.
According to yet another aspect, the input process populates the database system with raw data associated with the request, and an internal sequence number which is associated with the request.
According to another aspect, the input process determines if the request contains errors, and if so, the input process corrects the errors and populates the database system with the raw data based on the request.
According to a further aspect, the input process identifies duplicative requests, such that a first of the duplicative requests is processed and others of the duplicative requests are not processed by the order management system.
According to yet another aspect, the input process is adapted to receive and update requests received in a raw format from operations support systems, the input process further identifying manual update requests.
According to yet another aspect, the input process reformats the raw data into the hierarchical format of the database system, the hierarchical format comprising tables having fields. The tables are associated by the internal sequence number.
According to another aspect, the verification process determines if the fields contain valid data in accordance with predetermined constraints.
According to a further aspect, the verification process selectively updates a lock table to prevent concurrent processing of two requests associated with the subscriber telephone number.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process performs exception processing, order matching, correction order processing, order cancellation, local service provider order matching, and number change processing, creates a first saved table in the database system which contains activity information and service order code information in accordance with the request.
According to yet another aspect, the exception processing comprises From (F) and To (T) processing.
According to another aspect, the verification process processes FID and supplemental data.
According to a further aspect, the verification process determines if the request contains an allowable combination of the telephony services at a user selectable date in accordance with information contained in the first saved table. The verification process determines which of the network elements support the telephony services at the user selectable date.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process creates a second saved table which contains information related to a difference of telephony services between a subscriber""s current telephony services and the at least one telephony service being added, removed or modified by the request such that the difference of telephony services is implemented by the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process verifies that the telephony services represented by the request will be able to be provided by the network elements at a schedule date for implementation.
According to another aspect, the output process determines the service provisioning information to be implemented by the network elements for the subscriber telephone number. The output process routes the service provisioning information to queues associated with the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the output process further comprises a network element provisioning system, which interfaces with the network elements to output the service provisioning information in a format appropriate for each of the network elements. The network element provisioning system determines a proper sequence of the service implementing information to be outputted to the network elements. Additionally, the network element provisioning system outputs the service provisioning information to one or more queues associated with one or more network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the one or more queues have different dequeue times.
According to yet another aspect, the network element provisioning system routes a portion of the service logic implementing information to a local update queue in accordance with a predetermined time, such that the portion of the service logic implementing information is not routed to the one or more queues associated with the network elements.
According to another aspect, the network element provisioning system implements the at least one telephony service in accordance with at least the internal sequence number associated with the request.
According to a further aspect, the network element provisioning system updates the database system to indicate that the at least on telephony service has been implemented by the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the network element provisioning system requeues portions of the service provisioning information to the network elements when an error is encountered.
According to yet another aspect, the network implementing process requeues dependent portions of the portions of the service provisioning information without manual intervention.
According to another aspect, the network implementing process requeues the portion of the service provisioning information after manual intervention.
According to a further aspect, the network implementing process requeues the service provisioning information in accordance with a copy of the service provisioning information stored by the database system.
According to yet another aspect, the verification process determines a schedule date and a schedule time to activate the at least one telephony service at each of the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the order management system further comprises a composite view system to provide a list of all existing telephony services for the subscriber telephone number, and to provide a list of telephony services for the subscriber telephone number in accordance with a user selectable date and time.
According to another aspect, the system further comprises a correction system which returns the network elements to a state prior to the network element provisioning system implementing the service implementation information at the network elements. The correction system operates when the request has been corrected, canceled or encounters an error.
According to a further aspect, the correction system resubmits the request without intervention from the at least one operations support system.
According to yet another aspect, the correction system cancels the request without querying the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the database system appends advance intelligent network specific information to the request.
According to another aspect, the database system executes transactions related to the requests at the predetermined times, the transactions updating at least one predetermined table.
According to a further aspect, the database system comprises an historical order log which is updated by the transactions which are executed at the predetermined times.
According to yet another aspect, the historical order log stores information related to the single internal format, error information related to the transactions indicative of a cause of an error, and portions of the service provisioning information at the predetermined times. The order management system issues an acknowledgment to the at least one operations support system when the historical order log stores a last portion of the service provisioning information.
According to yet another aspect, the historical order log stores information related to the single internal format, error information related to the transactions indicative of a cause of an error, and portions of the service provisioning information at the predetermined times. The order management system issues an acknowledgment to the at least one operations support system prior to when the historical order log stores a last portion of the service provisioning information when the at least one telephony service is removed.
According to another aspect, the database system is adapted to skip storing one of the portions of the service provisioning information, and the order management system continues to determine subsequent portions of the service provisioning information.
According to a further aspect, the database system provides the order management system with a table-driven service logic to facilitate the addition of new telephony services.
According to yet another aspect, the database system provides the order management system with a table-driven service logic to facilitate the addition of new features to existing telephony services, the new features conforming to existing feature constraints.
According to yet another aspect, the database system provides an estimated response time in accordance with a network element response time and a length of a queue associated with each of the network elements.
According to another aspect, each of the network elements is provided with a plurality of queues having different prioritizations and the database system provides the estimated response time in accordance with the different prioritizations.
According to a further aspect, the plurality of queues having the different prioritization comprise an online queue and a batch queue.
According to yet another aspect, the database system utilizes an internal sequence number associated with the request to store and access the service provisioning information.
According to yet another aspect, the database system stores manual intervention information related to the service provisioning information at the predetermined times when the order management system encounters an error.
According to another aspect, the database system updates the at least one table such that the transactions are propagated through the order management system.
According to a further aspect, the database system is adapted to modify the request after the order management system has begun determining the service provisioning information for the request.
According to yet another aspect, the database system stores copies of the service provisioning information and the messages.
According to yet another aspect, the database system stores the request until a future date, future time, or future event, after which the database system submits the request to the order management system.
According to another aspect, the database system stores non-implementing information related to the request which is not used in the service provisioning information, the non-implementing information being associated with the subscriber telephone number upon the order management system outputting the service provisioning information.
According to a further aspect, the system further comprises a user interface, the user interface interfacing with the managing system via the interface system.
According to yet another aspect, the user interface is adapted to correct the service orders and generate the requests representative of the service orders.
According to yet another aspect, the user interface is adapted to query the network elements and the database system, the network elements receiving and processing the query via the order management system.
According to another aspect, the interface system provides a communications link to the at least one operations support system and the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the interface system routes communications to the appropriate one of the at least one operations support system and the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the communications links comprise TOPCOM, DATAGATE, MQSeries, ASN.1, TCP/IP and TUXEDO/WS.
According to yet another aspect, the interface system further comprises a transaction monitoring and system control component which monitors the messages and updates the database system in accordance with the messages. The database system is updated in accordance with an internal reference number associated with the request.
According to another aspect, the transaction monitoring and system control component comprises TUXEDO/Q or TUXEDO/T.
According to a further aspect, the order management system is provided with a system to implement telephony services on template-based network elements and non-template based network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the request submitted by the at least one operations support system initiates the messaging process to send a message to another of the operations support system.
According to yet another aspect, the system notifies an administrative personnel of an error in accordance with the severity of the error.
According to another aspect, synchronous network element and asynchronous network element responses are processed by the order management system in a standardized manner.
According to a further aspect, the processes and the interface system is adapted to be interrupted to read a configurable parameter file in order to modify the processes and the interface system.
According to yet another aspect, the user interface is provided with a suite of services to access the database system.
According to yet another aspect, the system is provided with a suite of services to access the database system.
According to another aspect, the operations support systems comprises EASE, ECRS, SOAC, and a PC server.
According to an yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for facilitating service order management within a communications network. The network receives a request representative of a service order for at least one communications service associated with a subscriber number. The request originates from at least one service order source having a dissimilar input/output format. The communications network comprises network elements which provide communications services to subscribers. the method comprises interfacing with the at least one service order source, inputting the request from the at least one service order source, converting the unique input/output order format into a single internal format, storing and accessing data related to the requests in a database in a hierarchical format, determining service implementing information to implement the at least one communications service, and outputting to the network elements the service implementing information.
According to another aspect, the method further includes distributing messages within the communications network, and to the at least one service order source and the network elements. The messages comprise queries, acknowledgments, transaction types, function types, broadcasts, informational messages, and error notices.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes monitoring transactions executed at predetermined times by the communications method, and controlling the communications network in accordance with the messages.
According to yet another aspect, the step of controlling the method further includes concurrently processing a plurality of requests within the communications network.
According to yet another aspect, the step of controlling the communications network further includes querying the database and the network elements.
According to another aspect, the step of inputting further includes accepting input data from the at least one service order source, and verifying that the inputted data contains a predetermined minimum content requirement.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes populating the database with raw data associated with the request, and generating an internal sequence number which is associated with the request.
According to yet another aspect, the step of verifying further includes determining if the request contains errors, and if so, correcting the errors and populating the database method with the raw data based on the request.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes identifying duplicative requests and processing a first of the duplicative requests such that others of the duplicative requests are not processed, and identifying manual update requests.
According to another aspect, the method further includes reformatting the raw data into the hierarchical format of the database, the hierarchical format comprising tables having fields, where the tables are associated by the internal sequence number. Also, the method includes determining if the fields contain valid data in accordance with predetermined constraints.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes selectively updating a lock table to prevent concurrent processing of two requests associated with the subscriber number, and performing exception processing, order matching, correction order processing, order cancellation, local service provider order matching, and number change processing. Also, the method includes creating a first saved table in the database which contains activity information and service order code information in accordance with the request.
According to yet another aspect, the above-mentioned step of performing includes processing From (F) and To (T) orders, an processing FID and supplemental data.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes determining if the request contains an allowable combination of the communications services at a user selectable date in accordance with information contained in the first saved table, and determining which of the network elements support the communications services at the user selectable date.
According to another aspect, the method further includes creating a second saved table which contains information related to a difference of communications services between a subscriber""s current services and the at least one communications service being added, removed or modified by the request such that the difference of services is implemented by the network elements. The method also includes verifying that the communications services represented by the request will be able to be provided by the network elements at a schedule date for implementation.
According to a further aspect, the step of determining service implementing information further includes routing the service implementing information to queues associated with the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes outputting the service implementing information to the network elements in a format appropriate for each of the network elements. The service implementing information is output to one or more queues associated with one or more network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the one or more queues have different dequeue times.
According to another aspect, the step of routing the service implementing logic routes a portion of the service logic implementing information to a local update queue in accordance with a predetermined time, such that the portion of the service logic implementing information is not routed to the one or more queues associated with the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes implementing the at least one communications service in accordance with at least the internal sequence number associated with the request, and updating the database to indicate that the at least one communications service has been implemented by the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the step of routing further includes requeuing portions of the service implementing information to the network elements when an error is encountered, and requeuing dependent portions of the portions of the service implementing information after manual intervention if the communications network is unable to resolve the error.
According to yet another aspect, the step of routing requeues the service implementing information in accordance with a copy of the service implementing information stored by the database.
According to another aspect, the method further includes determining a schedule date and a schedule time to activate the at least one communications service at the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes generating a composite view to provide a list of all existing services for the subscriber number, and providing a list of services for the subscriber number in accordance with a user selectable date and time.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes correcting the service implementation information by returning the network elements to a state prior to the service implementation information being outputted to the network elements, where the step of correcting is performed when the request has been corrected, canceled or encounters an error.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes resubmitting the request without intervention from the at least one service order source.
According to another aspect, the method further includes canceling the request without querying the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes appending communications network specific information to the request.
According to another aspect, the method further includes executing transactions related to the requests at the predetermined times, the transactions updating at least one predetermined table, and updating an historical order log when the transactions are executed which are executed at the predetermined times. The historical order log stores information related to the single internal format, error information related to the transactions indicative of a cause of an error, and portions of the service implementing information at the predetermined times. The method also includes issuing an acknowledgment to the at least one ""service order source prior to, or when, the historical order log stores a last portion of the service implementing information.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes skipping the step of storing one of the portions of the service implementing information and continuing to determine subsequent portions of the service implementing information.
According to another aspect, the step of determining includes providing an estimated response time in accordance with a network element response time, a queue prioritization and a length of the queue associated with each of the network elements.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes storing, in the database, manual intervention information related to the service implementing information at the predetermined times when the communications network encounters an error.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes propagating, throughout the communications network, the transactions, and modifying the request after the communications network has begun determining the service implementing information for the request.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes storing copies of the service implementing information and the messages, and storing the request until a future date, future time, or future event, after which the database submits the request to the communications network. The database stores non-implementing information related to the request which is not used in the service implementing information, the non-implementing information being associated with the subscriber number upon the service implementing information being outputted to the network elements.
According to another aspect, the communications network further includes a user interface, and the method further includes correcting the service orders, and generating the requests representative of the service orders.
According to a further aspect, the method further includes querying the network elements and the database, and receiving and processing the query at the network elements.
According to yet another aspect, the step of routing includes communicating with the network elements via one of TOPCOM, DATAGATE, MQSeries, ASN.1, TCP/IP and TUXEDO/WS.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes updating the database in accordance with the messages and an internal reference number associated with the request. And the monitoring and controlling is performed by TUXEDO/Q or TUXEDO/T.
According to another aspect, the method further includes implementing services on template-based network elements and non-template based network elements.
According to a further aspect, the step of distributing messages initiates a message to be send to another of the service order sources.
According to yet another aspect, the method further includes notifying administrative personnel of an error in accordance with the severity of the error.
According to another aspect, the method further includes processing synchronous network element and asynchronous network element responses in a standardized manner.
According to a further aspect, the step of determining further includes interrupting the communications network to read a configurable parameter file, and modifying the communications network in accordance with information in the configurable parameter file.
According to a further aspect, the communications network includes an advanced intelligent network, and the at least one order source includes EASE, ECRS, SOAC, and a PC server.
According to yet another aspect, the user interface is provided with a suite of services to access the database.
According to yet another aspect, the communications network is provided with a suite of services to access the database.
The above-listed and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more fully set forth hereinafter.